Emmerdale legend Nicola Wheeler has hinted at other possible storylines she would like her character to pursue, 24 years after first joining the soap.

The star, who has played the role of village gossiper Nicola King on the soap since 2001, has recently become a part owner in Cafe Main Street after capitalising on Brenda Walker and Bob Hope’s financial struggles.

One of Nicola’s biggest storylines came back in 2010 when she married fellow villager Jimmy King (Nick Miles). They have one daughter, Angelica, while Jimmy has two sons with other women.

And, while the soap legend confirmed that her character has no plans to leave Jimmy in the near future, she hinted that she would be curious to see what life would be like with other characters.

Speaking on the Off-Script podcast with Kelvin and Liz Fletcher, Nicola said: “I love working with Nick, I mean I’d like to have a dabble with other people.”

The Emmerdale star has previously confessed that her relationship with co-star Nick mirrors that of a real-life married couple, despite only playing spouses on the ITV soap.

Whilst appearing on Lorraine Kelly last year, the host remarked: “You two in Emmerdale have been married 10 years now, is it? ” to which Nicola responded: “They must have been married about 14 years now.”

Nicola Wheeler (Image: ITVX)
Kelly observed: “In real life, you two are really good mates and you’d need to be because you share so much time together. You must have that shorthand where you almost finish each other’s sentences.”

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Nicola concurred, saying: “We do. We have that thing of whenever I’m learning any scenes at home, I can hear Nick when I’m learning it. So I know how he’s going to play it, I know the pattern.”

While she stressed that her 15-year marriage would not be coming to an end anytime soon, Nicola did confirm to Kelvin and Liz that her character would soon be working with a “fabulous new guy”.

She said: “He’s coming into the character Lewis, it’s not Nicola’s toyboy though. They’ve got something in common which is quite funny, an odd thing to have in common but they do have something in common.

“He’s beautiful and young but not in a romantic way for my character.”